If you have never been to a Bongo's Bingo night, the description is a good place to start: 'spine-tingling terror', ridiculous prizes and 'bone marrow-curdling chaos'. The whole thing is built around a comedic, high-energy twist on traditional bingo, and this October it is taking over Southampton for a Halloween run. The theme is 'Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun', and the main events land at Circuit Southampton on 10, 24 and 31 October, with each one starting at 6:00 pm unless stated otherwise. There is also a separate 'Carnevil' edition scheduled for Saturday 1 November at District, so the run actually stretches into the first weekend of November.
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What you get for your ticket is not a quiet night of marking off numbers. The format leans on dance-offs, rave rounds, immersive entertainment, nostalgia and creative costume-wearing, and dressing up is actively encouraged. Co-founder Jonny Bongo, whose real name is Jonny Lacey, has said that Halloween is one of their favourite themes and that they love how creative everyone gets with their outfits, so there is a clear nod to lean into the costume side of things rather than just turning up.
It is worth knowing what you are signing up for, because Bongo's has grown into something far bigger than a local night. It was set up in April 2015 by Joshua Burke and Jonny Lacey and has since expanded to almost 50 locations around the world, with around 40 regular nights running across the UK plus events in Dubai and Australia, hosted by 18 different teams and employing 120 people. By 2025 it had served over 5 million customers and given away more than 5,000 Henry hoovers as prizes, and it marked its tenth anniversary that year with two shows at the Exhibition Centre in Liverpool. The guest list over the years reads like a random playlist: David Hasselhoff, the Vengaboys, B*Witched and Kelis have all performed, and Samuel L. Jackson once made an unannounced appearance at a Glasgow show in April 2023 to hand out glowsticks. Craig David, Natasha Beddingfield, Heather Small, Nadine Coyle, S Club, 5ive, Atomic Kitten, East 17, Boyzlife, Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnson have also been involved, while Lewis Capaldi and Tom Daley have turned up as players.
The venues are worth a quick look too. Circuit Southampton, at 127 Above Bar Street, is the UK's newest and biggest nightclub, opened in 2023 with two rooms and a 1,200 capacity, and it also runs sites in Bristol, Cardiff, York and Kingston. The Carnevil night, meanwhile, takes place at District. Between the two, there is plenty of room to choose your night, whether you want the main Halloween run at Circuit or the Carnevil edition at District.
Tickets are sold through the Bongo's Bingo website, so it is worth sorting yours before the dates fill up, especially if you are planning a group night out of it. With three dates at Circuit and a fourth at District, there is a good spread across the month, so you can pick the one that suits you best.
Published Date
24 September 2026
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